Senior Kamran Partovi stepped into a gold shipping container stationed outside of The Clarice and came face-to-face with another man named Kamran, 35, who was also standing in a gold shipping container — only his was stationed more than 6,000 miles away in Tehran, Iran.

“We had a lot in common. We talked about politics and things going on with the U.S. and Iran nuclear deal. We talked about traveling,” said Partovi, a government and politics major who is from Iran. “I really enjoyed the experience. ... I get really homesick, and for me, it was kind of a way to travel [to Iran].”

Partovi and Kamran were brought together as part of the “portals” program, an idea pioneered by a company called Shared Studios. Gold shipping containers stationed in different cities around the world connect people via real-time video feeds.

One of these global portals was on the campus during The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s NextNow Fest. Students and visitors could sign up for 20-minute sessions in the portal, where they could speak with someone living in Iran, Afghanistan, Mexico or Honduras.